Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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63. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the details of the expenditure to date of the capital carry over from 2017; the value of work carried out to date with the €28 million pre-paid to local authorities under the town and village enhancement scheme and the CLÁR programme in 2016; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19528/17]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Provision is made in the Revised Estimates Volume for the carryover of unspent Capital funding from the previous year, subject to a Ministerial Order being made by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform before 31^stMarch in the year of carryover. The amount of capital funding carried over into 2017 for my Department was €13.548 million.

Since the making of the relevant Order by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform on the 6^thMarch 2017, expenditure totalling just over €2.1 million has been incurred from the carryover. A total of €658,000 has been spent under Subhead A.15: Decade of Centenaries 1912-1922, while €1.448 million has been spent under Subhead B.5: Natural Heritage (National Parks and Wildlife Service).

With regard to the second part of the Deputy’s question, the 2016 CLÁR programme provided funding for the development of local infrastructure such as safety lights at rural schools, better road markings and pedestrian crossings close to community facilities, the provision of play areas and multi-use games facilities, and support for access roads to public amenities. The Town and Village Renewal Scheme provided funding for improvements to the public realm, tourism infrastructure, town health checks and other similar projects.

Table 1 outlines, on a county-by-county basis, the amount of funding which the Local Authorities have reported as having been expended to the end of February 2017 under the Town and Village Renewal scheme and the CLÁR programme.

However, expenditure has been increasing and my officials are continuing to impress on all Local Authorities the need to have their projects completed as soon as possible. In this context, satisfactory progress in relation to projects under the 2016 schemes will be an important consideration in 2017 funding decisions under the scheme.

My Department is also engaging closely with Local Authorities to ensure that all expenditure is in line with the Public Spending Code and that the funding is spent promptly and in accordance with project proposals.

Table 1 – Expenditure by county: Town & Village Renewal Scheme and CLÁR programme